Significant natural resources are spent in maintaining comfortable thermal environments for human occupancy, particularly in low temperature climates. The delivery of these natural resources to residences in the form of hydrocarbon gases, heating oil or electricity, largely generated from combustion of such hydrocarbon fuels, involves considerable expense for the occupants of the residence. Much of this energy is expended to maintain a comfortable temperature within the residence when the occupants are residing therein. These times are typically in the early evening and night when temperatures tend to lower.
Occupants of residential structures typically spend a significant amount of evening and nighttime in a largely motionless state involved in activities such as eating, watching television, reading a book, working with a computer, or sleeping. The occupant only utilizes a small amount of space during these activities. However, the entire residence, or significant portions thereof, are typically heated during this time period, resulting in significant heat waste. Accordingly, it is logical and desirable that only the particular spaces occupied by the resident be heated, rather than the entire interior of the residence.
Enclosures are known in the art for maintaining a small region at a high temperature. However, such enclosures are typically provided not to expose the occupant to minimal heat to provide comfort, but to achieve a therapeutic benefit. Sauna rooms provide one such example. Also, the patents to Kellogg (U.S. Pat. No. 558,394), Gohlin (U.S. Pat. No. 664,081), Fuller (U.S. Pat. No. 828,733), Lind (U.S. Pat. No. 2,420,254), Achner (U.S. Pat. No. 2,655,155), Novak (U.S. Pat. No. 3,741,218), Lueder (U.S. Pat. No. 4,309,999) and Albini (U.S. Pat. No. 4,582,062) provide various different enclosures with heat sources therein, typically light bulbs, to deliver high levels of heat and infrared radiation to the occupant.
Such prior art enclosures suffer from requiring very large amounts of electric or other energy to operate according to their designs. Also, they provide significantly greater levels of heat than that required to merely efficiently maintain a comfortable environment within the enclosure.
The basic principles of heat transfer establish what temperatures will be achieved within a particular environment based on the size of the environment, the amount of heat energy being directed into the environment, and the heat transfer characteristics of the materials forming the enclosure surrounding the environment. Specifically, heat transfer occurs according to one of three modes including radiation heat transfer, convection heat transfer and conduction heat transfer. By properly evaluating the quantity of each of these forms of heat transfer relative to a controlled thermal environment, the temperature within that environment can be calculated.
Additionally, some forms of heat transfer have a greater impact on the comfort level and temperature perceived by a human occupant, than other forms of heat transfer. Specifically, it has been well established that a room with a temperature of 70° F. but with cold walls perhaps below freezing (a typical situation in northern latitudes of North America in winter) will feel rather chilly, due to the radiation heat transfer out of the occupants of the room and into the cooler walls of the room. The occupants will not be comfortable in short sleeves in such an environment, but rather will typically wear long sleeved shirts, long pants, and perhaps a sweater to maintain comfort.
In contrast, the same room with a 70° F. air temperature but with warmer walls (such as during a hot summer day with an exterior temperature of perhaps 90° F. or more), will provide a rather warm perception for the occupants of the room. Radiation heat transfer from the warm walls of the room into the occupants will cause the occupants to typically prefer short sleeve shirts and perhaps short pants to maintain comfort within such a room.
Similarly, the degree to which the air is flowing against the occupants within the thermally controlled space will have an effect on the perceived temperature of the room, even though the actual temperature of air within the room might be different than that perceived by the occupant. Accordingly, it is desirable that an enclosure configured to maintain a comfortable space within the enclosure and maintaining a low cost to operate would maximize the perception of temperature within the enclosure while minimizing the actual air temperature within the enclosure for highest efficiency. Such a maximization can particularly be provided by maximizing the perceived radiation heat transfer into the occupant from walls of the enclosure in as energy efficient a manner as possible. The enclosure also beneficially minimizes air flow by natural convection or other convection forces so that the somewhat chilling effect of cool air flowing over the occupant is avoided.
To maximize the apparent temperature of the occupant due to radiation heat transfer into the occupant, it is beneficial to additionally take advantage of the concept of thermodynamic resonance. Thermodynamic resonance is described in detail in the book entitled “Pyramid Science and the Unified Field, Second Edition” by Walter F. Dimmick, copyright 1996. This concept of thermodynamic resonance is based on the observation that electromagnetic radiation, including infrared wave lengths of electromagnetic radiation responsible for radiation heat transfer, resonate at particular distances in a manner analogous to that of a standing wave, so that at specific distances away from a radiant heat source a greater perceived level of radiation heat transfer is experienced, particularly by a human occupant. In particular, distances which fall into increments of half hydrogen cubits identify points where peaks occur in such standing waves and a maximum amount of perceived radiation heat transfer is experienced. A hydrogen cubit is defined as 25.025 inches, or 25 hydrogen inches, where each hydrogen inch is 1.001 standard or American inches.
Correspondingly, odd increments of quarter hydrogen cubits exactly halfway between the increments of half hydrogen cubits define locations in such thermodynamic resonance standing waves where a particularly low amount of radiation heat transfer is perceived, particularly by a human observer. Accordingly, a need exists for an enclosure which is sized, shaped and configured to maximize utilization of concepts of radiation heat transfer and thermodynamic resonance so that a warmest possible perceived interior controlled thermal environment can be maintained within the enclosure while an actual physically measured air temperature within the enclosure is as low as possible. In this way, a minimum amount of resources and associated cost is expended to maintain such a desirable perceived controlled thermal environment within the enclosure.